One of the country's largest Catholic-owned hospitals will carry out abortions under new laws, it has confirmed.

The Mater Hospital in Dublin's north inner city is one of 25 named in controversial legislation where a pregnancy can be terminated if the woman's life is in danger.

In a statement today, hospital chiefs said they had carefully considered the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act and would abide by the law.

"The hospital's priority is to be at the frontier of compassion, concern and clinical care for all our patients," the statement said.

"Having regard to that duty, the hospital will comply with the law as provided for in the act."

The confirmation follows claims last month from one of the hospital's board of governors that it could not follow the law because of its Catholic ethos.

Fr Kevin Doran, based in Donnybrook in Dublin, had argued European regulations could allow the hospital to opt out of the new laws.

The Mater Hospital was f ounded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1861. It is now run as a private company, mostly owned by the same religious order as well as the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, the Catholic Nurses Guild of Ireland, the Society of St Vincent de Paul and medical consultants.

Another of the 25 hospitals named in the law as an "appropriate institution" for an abortion to be carried out to save the life of a pregnant woman is the Catholic-run St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin, part-owned by the Sisters of Charity.

The hospital has already confirmed it will follow " the law of the land".